Ramadan ensures bumper sales of religious items in Kashmir

Srinagar: The sale of religious items used by Muslim devotees during the
holy month of Ramadan is on the rise. Local vendors and shop owners are doing
brisk trade as devotees flock to their shops outside mosques, which sell such
items. According to Sunnah (some actions that are quoted in the Koran as done
by God), using Miswakh (teeth cleaning twig), Attar, wearing skullcaps, rosary
and Musallah (prayer mat) are considered auspicious. "By the grace of God, the
sales increase in the month of Ramadan because Muslims follow Sunnah. So, they
use Miswakh, Attar, cap for performing prayers and Tasbiya (rosary) and Musallah,"
Bilal Ahmed, a shopkeeper, said. Another shop owner, Abdul Rehman also said that
Ramadan brings profit for them. "I sell caps, attar which are imported and also
Miswakh and Tasbiya. We are here all twelve months of the year. However, during
Ramadan, we have bumper sales as people buy more and use more," he said. Ahmad
also said that various items are imported from Dubai , Saudi Arabia , Turkey and
other countries. "We buy sometimes form the local wholesalers and sometimes we
buy them from Delhi and Mumbai. In Delhi and Mumbai, it is imported from Saudi
Arabia , caps are imported from Turkey and Damascus and we get Miswakh from Pakistan
and attar from Dubai ," he said. Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim Hijri
Lunar calendar, honours the revelation of the holy Koran to Prophet Mohammed,
and is a time of religious fervour. During this month, Muslims do not consume
food or water from dawn to dusk. They eat a small pre-dawn meal, and, at dusk,
they break the daylong fast with an evening meal called 'Iftar'.